Tuning In: Holy Cross women blessed with radio coverage

Holy Cross women’s basketball coach Bill Gibbons has been singing, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” around his office lately, and the reason has nothing to do with Advent or Christmas.

Holy Cross men’s and women’s basketball returned to the radio this week after a three-year absence. WNEB (1230 AM), now known as Emmanuel Radio, began a schedule of 22 HC men’s and women’s regular-season road games when the women played at Northeastern Wednesday night. The station’s next game will be the HC women at Quinnipiac at noon tomorrow.

The HC games will be the only local programming on Emmanuel Radio, one of the 200-plus affiliates of the Catholic Radio Network. The station broadcasts daily Mass twice a day and syndicated talk shows from EWTN Radio. Ray Lauring, who owns Lauring Construction Co. in Worcester, owns the station.

Some fans believe sports are a religion, but even if you don’t you have to admit that, HC teaming up with Emmanuel Radio should benefit both partners. HC needed a radio home, and Emmanuel Radio wanted to broaden its appeal. They answered each other’s prayers.

“I truly feel,” Gibbons said, “that we can get more listeners tuning in to Catholic Radio in Worcester by broadcasting our games on the station.”

Emmanuel Radio is not well known in Worcester, but Cindy Dorsey, who joined the station as general manager in August, agrees that the games will attract new listeners.

Dorsey said 80.5 percent of listeners of the 1,000-watt, nonprofit station live in the Worcester Diocese.

“Our No. 1 mission is to evangelize, to spread the word of God,” Dorsey said, “throughout the Diocese of Worcester and beyond. This is a wonderful way to partner with one of our Catholic colleges here in our market, and it’s an opportunity to provide Worcester programming. It’s a melding of the same people who listen to sports and go to church.”

HC approached Emmanuel Radio about carrying the games last season, but the station didn’t launch until May 1, 2011, and wasn’t ready to do so.

The HC men and women were last broadcast on the radio four years ago on The Pike, 100.1 FM, but since then, their games have been streamed online at www.goholycross.com and will continue to be.

“It’s important,” Fouracre said, “to be on the radio for people aged 50 and older because a lot of them don’t use computers and go online for games like the younger people. It’s always nice to have a local radio station in your market.”

“Every different way we can put our games out there for people to access,” said Frank Mastrandrea, HC’s assistant athletic director for marketing and media relations, “is a good thing. We’re thrilled.”

Under different ownership, WNEB broadcast HC football and basketball games for three years in the late 1980s. HC moved on to WVEI (1440 AM), WTAG (580 AM) and most recently 100.1 FM, The Pike. HC football games have been broadcast on WTAG in recent years.

Dorsey worked in sales for WTAG and The Pike when they carried HC games.

“The Holy Cross Basketball Show” with Gibbons debuted this week on Charter TV3. The program will air each week during the season at 8:30 p.m. Wednesdays and repeat at 10:30 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Saturdays, and 8:30 p.m. Sundays.

Prior to the Patriots-Texans AFC showdown on “Monday Night Football,” Tom Brady will take part in “Gruden Extra” during ESPN’s two-hour pregame show.

Listening to MNF analyst Jon Gruden pick Brady’s brain would have been interesting, but MNF play-by-play voice Mike Tirico filled in for Gruden when the segment was taped because Gruden was in Tampa Bay over the weekend for the 10th reunion of the Super Bowl XXXVII championship team he coached.

The pregame show will include audio from Patriots coach Bill Belichick on the sideline of New England’s victory over Indianapolis in Week 11.

Molly McGrath is the new host of “Celtics Now,” a monthly review of the team on CSNNE. McGrath is in her second year as the team’s in-arena host at Celtics home games.

Rich Shertenlieb of 98.5 the Sports Hub’s “Toucher & Rich” hosts a segment called “Garden Gig” from the pro shop each show.